A/N - This piece is more about Luicus, and his role as a grandfather. It's very light and very fluffy.


A Soft Touch.

Retirement was something that Lucius Malfoy had dreaded for years. In fact he'd even put off retiring for several years until his son, Draco, and his wife, Narcissa, had ganged up on him and persuaded him that after years of working hard it was time to take it easy and rest up. Lucius had never had a problem with the extra time retiring would mean spending with his wife, it was the lack of activity that had worried him, but he needn't have worried. Narcissa had kept him busy since retirement, and then there was his grandchildren to keep him busy. Life was never boring when eight year old Scorpius, and four year old Lyra were around the manor.

In fact Lucius was currently getting ready to spend the afternoon looking after his granddaughter. Draco was at work, running the family business, while Draco's wife Hermione was going to be busy all afternoon with Narcissa as the pair were planning a big anniversary party for Lucius and Narcissa. Scorpius was on a play date with his best friend, Alex Zabini, so this afternoon would be just Lucius and his precious granddaughter.

Lucius had to admit he'd been extremely nervous when Hermione had announced that her second child was going to be a girl. Lucius had never had experience with little girls, and even though he hadn't always been the best of fathers to Draco, he'd found it easy to be a doting grandfather to Scorpius. However, Lucius needn't have worried, for the second Lyra came along she'd had her grandfather wrapped around her little finger, and the pair had bonded immediately.

"Lucius," Narcissa's voice called, jolting her husband from his thoughts. "Hermione and Lyra are here."

Leaving his study, Lucius made his way to the main living room in the manor. Lyra was already settled on one of the sofas, her bag which would be stuffed full of things to do, sitting beside her. Narcissa and Hermione were standing talking, but Lucius barely had a chance to say hello to Hermione, before Lyra had climbed off the sofa and came barrelling towards him.

"Grandpa Lu," Lyra cried, launching herself at Lucius.

"Hello there my little princess," Lucius greeted, sweeping Lyra up into his arms and letting his cane fall to the floor. "Someone's getting big."

"I'm growing up," Lyra said with a serious nod. "Soon, I'll be a big girl."

"But for now, you're still my little girl," Lucius said, giving Lyra a kiss on the cheek, causing his granddaughter to giggle happily and snuggle into him.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to cope?" Hermione checked with her father-in-law as he settled Lyra on the sofa and told her to pick something from her bag for them to do.

"Of course," Lucius replied with a tut as he picked up his cane. "I am perfectly capable of looking after my granddaughter. Now you two scram, and leave Lyra and I alone."

"We get the hint, we're going," Narcissa chuckled, giving her husband a quick kiss before turning her attention to her granddaughter. "Bye, Lyra."

"Bye Nana Cissa," Lyra replied, barely looking up from her bag. "Grandpa Lu, will you read to me?" She asked, pulling her favourite book from her bag.

"Of course, sweetheart," Lucius said, sitting down next to his granddaughter as Narcissa and Hermione said their goodbyes and left the manor.

Left alone, Lucius settled down for an afternoon with his granddaughter. After reading Lyra's book, twice because she liked it so much, they played with some of Lyra's stuffed toys. Lucius didn't even flinch when Lyra pulled out a large dolls head and a brush, so she could style the dolls hair. He still related with Scorpius's toys easier, but for Lyra he would happily brush the hair on a doll.

"Grandpa Lu," Lyra said slowly, her tone of voice indicating she wanted something and wasn't sure how he was going to react.

"Yes princess," Lucius replied, giving his granddaughter a reassuring smile.

"Can I play with your hair?" Lyra asked with a shy smile.

Lucius's first instinct was to say no, as he wasn't sure he wanted Lyra to get it in a mess. He still wore his hair long, and he was proud of the fact he still had hair, unlike a lot of his friends who were rapidly going bald. However, Lyra was looking at him with her large brown eyes and he found himself incapable of saying no to her. With a sigh, he pulled out the black ribbon that was holding his hair back and gave his granddaughter permission to do as she pleased. It wasn't as if anyone would see the mess Lyra was going to make, as he would be his usual tidy self by the time anyone returned.

"I'll make you pretty," Lyra said, standing up on the sofa as she began to roughly pull the brush through Lucius's hair.

Lucius winced as Lyra pulled the brush through his hair. However, he didn't want to upset Lyra so he gritted his teeth and let Lyra carry on. After nearly five minutes of torture, she'd separated his hair into two halves and tied each half up with a pink bobble.

"Is that it?" Lucius asked, dreading to think what he looked like.

"No," Lyra replied with a shake of her head. "I'm giving you plaits."

"How lovely," Lucius replied, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

Lucius's annoyance was soon put to one side as he took in his granddaughter's happy face as she merrily plaited his long platinum blond hair. As she worked, Lyra giggled and chatted on to him, and Lucius soon forget about what she was doing to his hair. He was completely caught up in his granddaughter and how happy she was.

"Pretty grandpa," Lyra giggled as she finished the final plait. "Now for glitter."

"Glitter?" Lucius questioned with a frown.

"Everyone needs glitter," Lyra stated firmly as she dug around in her bag for a pot of glitter.

"Glitter it is then," Lucius replied with a sigh as Lyra produced a pot of hot pink glitter.

Lucius was initially worried that Lyra was just going to tip the pot over his head, but thankfully his granddaughter wasn't that reckless. She just grabbed a few handfuls and sprinkled it over his hair. Lucius figured he must look like a right state, but there was only Lyra around to see him, and his granddaughter was happy with her afternoons work.

"All done," Lyra declared with a proud grin.

"What do you want to do now, Lyra?" Lucius asked.

"Read," Lyra answered.

"We've read your book twice," Lucius pointed out. "How about we go and see what we can find in the library?"

"Yeah," Lyra cried, wrapping her arms around Lucius as he picked her up and carried her off to the large library that the manor boasted.

On the way Lucius managed to get a glimpse of himself in one of the mirrors. He'd been right about looking a state. His hair was in two messy and uneven plaits, and his head was covered with pink glitter. To be honest he wasn't sure how he was going to clean up completely without having to resort to having a shower. Maybe once Lyra had read for a bit he could get one of the house elves to watch her for a few minutes while he grabbed a quick shower.

Unfortunately for Lucius, he got so distracted in the library with Lyra that he temporarily forgot about his hair. Scouring the books and reading several stories to Lyra, he got well and truly distracted, and even when Lyra dozed off on his knee, he remained in the library, reading a book of his own. It was only when one of the house elves, all free these days thanks to Hermione's efforts, appeared that Lucius realised how much time had passed.

"Mr Severus is here to see you," The elf announced, before disappearing with a pop.

Lucius carefully got up from his chair, Lyra still sound asleep on his lap, and placed his granddaughter on the chair. However, before he got the chance to do something about his hair he heard a snickering behind him, and whirling around he came face to face with his old friend. The second he turned around, Severus burst out laughing.

"Oh Lucius, you look a picture," Severus spluttered through his laughter.

"I'm looking after Lyra," Lucius muttered through clenched teeth, wishing he'd gotten rid of the plaits after Lyra had first fallen asleep.

"So I see," Severus chuckled. "The plats suit you. Not to mention the pink glitter. So macho."

"If you're not careful, I'll let her loose on you," Lucius warned. While Severus's hair wasn't half as long as his, it was still long enough for Lyra to work her magic on.

"I'll be good," Severus promised with a smirk.

"And quiet," Lucius added. "I swear Severus, if anyone hears about this, I'll know where it's come from."

"I won't breathe a word," Severus vowed. "Especially if you get me a drink."

"Let's go back to the front room," Lucius said, picking up his granddaughter.

Together the two men went back to the front room, where Lucius placed a sleeping Lyra down on the sofa. He then gave Severus a glass of his finest firewhisky, before slipping off and sorting his hair. By the time the rest of the family returned, Severus had agreed to stay for dinner, and Lucius was back to normal. Now no-one but Severus and Lyra would ever know that Lucius had spent the afternoon with plaited hair and pink glitter all over his head.